Background
Johnson was born on March 11, 1925 in Wilsey, Kansas, United States; the daughter of William H. Irwin and Rosa L. (Welty) Irwin.
Johnson was born on March 11, 1925 in Wilsey, Kansas, United States; the daughter of William H. Irwin and Rosa L. (Welty) Irwin.
Johnson received a Bachelor of Science degree from Kansas State University in 1948. Seventeen years later she earned her Master of Science degree in Nursing from Yale University. In 1969, she was given a Master of Science degree from the University of Wisconsin. Also in 1971, Jean received a Doctor of Philosophy degree and an honorary degree of Doctor of Science in 1998 from the same university.
Johnson began her career as an instructor of nursing in Iowa, Kansas and Colorado in 1948. Ten years later she took a position of a staff nurse at Swedish Medical Center. Then in 1960, Jean was appointed the inservice education coordinator at General Rose Memorial Hospital, where she worked until 1963.
In 1965, she became a research assistant at Yale University and held the position for two years. Johnson worked as an associate professor of nursing at Wayne State University from 1971 to 1974. In 1974, she took a position of a professor at that university, where she served until 1979. The same years Jean worked as a director at the Center for Health Research.
In 1979, she became a director at Cancer Center at the University of Rochester, where she served for fourteen years. In addition, in 1979, Johnson was appointed a professor of nursing at the same university. Since 1995 she has been a professor emeritus at the University of Rochester.
Johnson is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research, American Psychological Society, Sigma Xi, Omicron Nu and Phi Kappa Phi.